BCB 100 - Leonard Cohen

geoffcowgill · Postby **geoffcowgill** » 19 Jun 2006, 17:19

I've got 2/3 or so of his albums. The one that stands head-and-shoulders above the pack is New Skin For The Old Ceremony. The biggest gripe people have with Cohen, I imagine, is the production. It's either skeletal folk with chirpy back-up singers or gauche adult contemporary synth stuff. New Skin has fantastic music, a very spare but engaging folk-rock type of collection with accents of mandolin, trombones, banjo, and Jews harp. Apart from just sounding great, such a rarity for a Cohen album, the songs are among his strongest. And his singing is more forceful and passionate than anything else he's done. On the bookending tracks, "Is This What You Wanted" and "Leaving Greensleeves", he's actually screaming a bit in the fade-outs, straining his voice in a real rock sort of way. It's pretty thrilling. It's an album of wit and honesty, in equal measure, upfront about sex and all sorts of other things men and women get up to together. It's one of the very best albums of the 70s.

Favorite album- New Skin For The Old Ceremony

Favorite song- "Is This What You Wanted"

Oscar · Postby **Oscar** » 19 Jun 2006, 17:23

Album: (Always) Songs Of Leonard Cohen
Track: (sometimes) Chelsea Hotel

Matt Wilson · Postby **Matt Wilson** » 19 Jun 2006, 17:23

I only have his first album. I've always wanted to get into him but have thus far resisted because none of his stuff is remastered. I don't wanna go and get a bunch of his CDs and then next year there will be a complete overhaul of his catelog and I'll have to buy all of them again.

But since there's no word yet re when this will (ever?) happen I may have to bite the bullet and start picking some up. That debut CD is pretty good. The Altman film McCabe & Mrs Miller (a movie I love) uses some of the songs from that LP to great effect.

Penk! · Postby **Penk!** » 19 Jun 2006, 17:38

I got Songs of Love and Hate recently and that was my first Cohen album. I really like it though, Last Year's Man is my favourite song on there.

Clay Davis · Postby **Clay Davis** » 19 Jun 2006, 17:41

I only have Songs of Leonard Cohen and Songs of Love and Hate. Both are great albums. my favourite is Love and Hate with Famous Blue Raincoat being the best song.

Molony · Postby **Molony** » 19 Jun 2006, 17:59

Album: New Songs for the Old Ceremony
Track: Famous Blue Raincoat

the masked man · Postby **the masked man** » 19 Jun 2006, 18:26

Brilliant songwriter who has learned to make strong use of a frankly limited voice. My favourite album is "Songs Of Love And Hate" by a looong way - it just such an extreme record, full of naked emotions, that I need to have a lie down after hearing it.

Favourite song (and I've said this many times) is "Famous Blue Raincoat" - I can always get lost in that song's eternal triangle, with all its moral implications, and then be left for dead by the line "Jane came by with a lock of your hair", suggesting an innocence that's way beyond the protaganists.

What a song!

Sincerely, masked man.

toomanyhatz · Postby **toomanyhatz** » 19 Jun 2006, 19:09

Aahhh, now you're talking my language. My favorite songwriter by a large margin. I agree he hasn't always been well-served production-wise, and furthermore, Geoff is right on about New Skin for the Old Ceremony, which is also my favorite. His songwriting is just so lucid, though- so honest, passionate, words so well-chosen, and a frankness about sexuality that's not just there to get attention as it is with most songwriters. He hasn't had the same effect on the history of music and society as a whole as my other favorite songwriters (Dylan, Cash, Joni), but as far as what moves and inspires me, he towers head and shoulders above all of them.

Oh, and I also wanted to mention that I think the notion of his songs as being "depressing" is highly overstated. He talks about depressing things, yes. But always from the standpoint of working through them by talking about them. His songs are his therapy. And voice of experience here- holding stuff in is so much more depressing than being frank about it. I find listening to him inspirational.

Favorite song - Sisters of Mercy. A lesson in economy, directness, statement of purpose, and right up there with Marvin Gaye at combining spirituality and sexuality.

geoffcowgill · Postby **geoffcowgill** » 19 Jun 2006, 19:40

toomanyhatz wrote:
Oh, and I also wanted to mention that I think the notion of his songs as being "depressing" is highly overstated. He talks about depressing things, yes. But always from the standpoint of working through them by talking about them. His songs are his therapy. And voice of experience here- holding stuff in is so much more depressing than being frank about it. I find listening to him inspirational.

And how depressing can someone so damned funny be? The supposedly ironic nickname of Laughing Lenny is only relevant in that he delivers his punchlines so dryly that the laughter only comes from us on the other side of the speakers.

The Fish · Postby **The Fish** » 19 Jun 2006, 20:48

Early: Songs of Love And Hate
Middle: Various Positions
Late: Ten New Songs

Track: Alexandra Leaving

I know the later albums divide opinion, but I find Ten New Songs absolutely stunning. As far as I know, only Kid shares this view.

Prez! · Postby **Prez!** » 19 Jun 2006, 21:14

Favourite album:- The Future
Favourite Song:- Bird on a Wire

Sambient · Postby **Sambient** » 19 Jun 2006, 22:38

toomanyhatz wrote:Favorite song - Sisters of Mercy. A lesson in economy, directness, statement of purpose, and right up there with Marvin Gaye at combining spirituality and sexuality.

Though he claims the duo that inspired this song were indeed not lovers like that. But bestows them the special intimacy that people who have made you feel cared for merit.
These were women who gave him a blanket and their couch to sleep the night. An act of kindness that hit the spot, and triggered the muse.

Leg of lamb · Postby **Leg of lamb** » 19 Jun 2006, 22:54

I like this dude a lot. He hits the funny bone and the heart and is one of the few songwriters who I feel understands the world of verse beyond pop lyrics.

Favourite Album: The Best of Leonard Cohen. 3 tracks from each of the first four albums (I think). No fuss, no filler and quenches my Cohen jones when I get it.

Favourite Song: 'Take This Longing'. This inspired me to write one of my first shitty attempts at in depth music writing. I still think it's one of the most eloquent portrayals of lust I'll hear in pop music, even if it's closer to 'To His Coy Mistress' by Marvell than 'Let's Get It On'.

Sambient · Postby **Sambient** » 20 Jun 2006, 01:41

I'm too tangled to make easy decisions about 'best' when it comes to El Cohen. So, without over analyzing, here goes.

Favorite Album I'm Your Man. It also holds some of the worst Lennytunes committed, but the rest deliver major goods.

Favorite Song Famous Blue Raincoat. I wish I could say that one of his most famous songs isn't his best, or my favorite. I wish my affection for one of the others would surpass my acknowledgement of the truth of this song. The line that strikes the furthest depth for me, of so many good lines is: "Thanks for the trouble you took from her eyes. I thought it was there for good, so I never tried."

RcL · Postby **RcL** » 20 Jun 2006, 03:51

No takers for Death of a Ladies Man then?

I'm for the early stuff myself, but still like quite a few later things. I realised recently that I don't know one song from Recent Songs. Does anyone actually know this record - why is it so unmentioned?

Album - Songs of

Song - sometimes You Know Who I Am topples my main favourite which is Stories of the Street (his finest lyric)

Corporate whore · Postby **Corporate whore** » 20 Jun 2006, 09:20

Too difficult.

Today;

Album: I'm your man

Song: The Future

Davey the Fat Boy · Postby **Davey the Fat Boy** » 20 Jun 2006, 23:16

Album: Songs of Leonard Cohen
Like many artists, the first album is still the best. The arrangements are among the most delicate and beautiful ever in the history of the singer-songwriter genre. Produced by the legendary John Simon, all one has to do is listen to Sisters Of Mercywith headphones to realize that something special is happening here. And while 'skeletal' folk is the order of the day, the 'chirpy' back-up singers are not a problem on this album. And any group of songs starting off with Suzanne is bound to be worth double the cost.

Song:
Seems So Long Ago Nancy (off of Songs of Love and Hate - his second best in my estimation)
Cohen's written some great ones, but this one stands from the pack. Maybe the most truly human he has ever allowed himself to be.

We told her she was beautiful
We told her she was free
But none of us would meet her in
the house of mystery....

geoffcowgill · Postby **geoffcowgill** » 21 Jun 2006, 06:24

I don't mean to be snotty, but "Seems So Long Ago, Nancy" is from Songs From A Room. And it is a great song, that's for sure.

Willsome · Postby **Willsome** » 21 Jun 2006, 07:40

There's an awful lot of good stuff on Recent Songs and Various Positions. "The Traitor' from Recent Songs is one of my all time favourites as is 'Night Comes On' and 'Heart With No Companion' (Various Positions). `When you get lines like 'My son and my daughter/climbed out of the water/saying "Papa you promised to play"' and 'I sing this for the Captain whose ship has not been built, the mother in confusion, her cradle still unfilled' you know you're listening to profound poetry set to heart-rending musical arrangements.

Poetry is, fortunately or unfortunately (depending on your taste), how his latest stuff should be listened to because his voice has declined so much that it's not pleasant trying to hear them as songs.